Stick-leaded circuit board components such as electrolytic capacitive devices are typically secured to circuit boards by soldering their leads or sticks to plated through-holes in a circuit board. The plated through-holes serve to electrically interconnect the component to metallization (e.g., metal runners) on the opposite side of the board, forming a side-to-side connection. Soldering is performed by such methods as wave soldering by which solder is applied to the leads of a component from the side of the circuit board opposite the component. However, the solder joint alone often does not sufficiently prevent fatigue fracturing of the leads when the circuit board is subjected to vibration. In the past, conformal coatings applied to circuit boards to prevent the accumulation of moisture on the boards have also served to reduce fatigue fracturing of stick leads by acting as bonding and structural damping agents. However, conformal coatings are not always appropriate or possible, rendering stick-leaded components vulnerable to detachment from a circuit board.
Accordingly, it would be desirable if a technique were available to provide vibrational damping for surface-mount devices, and particularly stick-leaded devices, that did not complicate the manufacture or processing of the devices and their circuit boards.